Private legal practitioner Martin Kpebu and a Professor at the University of Ghana Ransford Gyampo have jointly sued the Attorney-General (A-G) and the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) over the case involving former Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources Cecilia Abena Dapaah.
Kpebu, who announced the suit on TV3’s Key Points on Saturday, July 20 said that they have a problem with the advice that the A-G gave to EOCO not to investigate the matter.
“We have sued, the advice by the A-G, we are challenging the A-G in court. We filed the writ a week ago. There are several cases coming up. We have sued EOCO and A-G. Which law says that you must find a predicate offence?” he asked.
Martin Kpebu earlier explained that there was no need to establish a predicate offence in money laundering before a person can be charged for that offense.
A predicate offence is an illegal activity that is the foundation or the first crime in the chain of another crime. For example, in money laundering, an illicit act of tax evasion can be construed as a “predicate offence,” as the illegal proceeds generated from tax evasion would be laundered.
Kpebu said that if one failed to disclose the source of the income, it was enough to charge the person with money laundering.
He was commenting on the Office of the Attorney-General’s advice to the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) not to initiate any move to investigate money laundering in the dealings of the former Sanitation Minister, Cecilia Dapaah.
Upon a request for advice by EOCO on the matter, the Attorney-General’s office, in a letter dated April 25, 2024, and copied to EOCO, said it found that the OSP did not submit the report on its collaborative investigation to EOCO.
Additionally, the office noted the OSP has not responded to EOCO’s request for its findings.
According to the Attorney General’s office, the docket presented to EOCO only contains the OSP’s letter transmitting the docket, the diary of action, statements taken during the investigation, and letters written by the OSP to other institutions like the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) and banks for inquiries.
Content by: Laud Nartey
